Fox Trap
by whiterice-party
Summary: Nanami hasn't had a day off in ages, and when she finally manages to get one, her love for good bargains drives her into an unfortunate - and fluffy - situation. Who's foxy now, Tomoe?
1. Chapter 1

"Na-na-mi."

Flinching at the drawn-out call, Nanami crept quietly outside, sparing the door one last paranoid glance. She could taste freedom now, and she broke into a run, snickering to herself. That fox could call for her all he wanted - she wasn't going to comply, not today.

She hadn't even reached the stairs leading down from the shrine when she felt a chill on her back. Before she had the chance to turn around, a pair of hands easily swept her off her feet; a moment later, she was glaring defiantly at Tomoe's disapproving face.

"Put me down," she demanded, wriggling with all her might. Tomoe sighed and rolled his eyes, but he released her.

"You can't keep running away," the fox familiar said irritably. "I've been chasing you around all morning. Stop being such a substandard land god."

"I practiced using talismans all day yesterday." Nanami started to back away slowly, but she knew from the way Tomoe's ear twitched that it had not gone unnoticed. "Today, I want to go out. Come on, Tomoe, we haven't been to town for fun for a while."

"Your talismans failed horribly yesterday," Tomoe said flatly. "Once they succeed consistently, we can go into town."

"My talismans failed because my heart wasn't in it. My heart wasn't in it because I haven't had the chance to go and do anything for so long that I'm stressed!"

"You're not stressed." Tomoe crept closer to her, and Nanami nervously increased her backward shuffle. "You were humming happily this morning until I reminded you that you need to practice."

The stairs were behind her now. Nanami knew that realistically, there was no way she could outrun Tomoe, but she had a trick up her sleeve. Namely, a talisman with the word _fast_ scribbled on it.

She pulled out the talisman slowly, and Tomoe followed it with his eyes suspiciously. She gave him one last smirk before slapping the talisman on her chest and taking off.

Her surroundings became a blur and she immediately regretted her decision; just because she was fast didn't mean that she was used to being fast. She was already halfway down the stairs, an impressive feat, but every time her foot hit the ground she felt herself creeping a little bit closer to tripping. At this speed, tripping could mean peeling the skin off of her face. And possibly dying.

"Nanami!"

Her first instinct was to let Tomoe stop her run of destruction, but she was already most of the way down, so she sped up instead.

That was the fatal blow. Nanami's foot caught on a crack in the steps and she flipped forward, letting out a scream and closing her eyes.

As always, Tomoe was miraculously there to catch her, but she was going so fast that the both of them were propelled into a nearby tree at the approximate speed of the bullet train, Tomoe's body acting as a cushion that almost broke the tree trunk in half. Luckily, the trunk held on by a number of fibers, wobbling dangerously above them as Nanami shakily removed the talisman and threw it to the ground.

"Tomoe!" He was still propped against the tree trunk, covered in pine needles and entirely silent. Nanami cleared the pine needles from his hair, starting to panic. "I'm sorry, are you okay? Hey!"

Grey eyes irritably blinked open. "Well, that talisman worked, at least."

Nanami sighed with relief. "Sorry...maybe I'm not coordinated enough to handle being that fast."

"Well," Tomoe said, a gleam in his eyes, "luckily, you seem to have freed up your day for practicing." He easily picked her up with a wicked grin.

"Nooooo," wailed Nanami. She thrashed around a bit, but as she could have expected, it was pointless in Tomoe's arms. The fox familiar had already started heading back up to the shrine, and Nanami sighed, bracing herself for the use of her final tactic.

"Tomoe," she pouted, gazing up at him innocently. It was a corny act, but Tomoe's ear twitched. "We haven't done anything fun in town in _ages_. Can't we do something really quick?"

He did not respond, his tail flicking tensely.

"I _promise_ I'll practice when we're back," Nanami insisted.

Tomoe did not look convinced, but Nanami thought she felt his walk slow ever so slightly.

"If we go, I'll wake up on time every day for a week," she said sweetly, dangling the offer in front of his nose.

It was decided. Tomoe glared at her, but gave a grudging nod.

That was how, a half hour later, Tomoe and Nanami were on their way into town, Mizuki trailing creepily behind them. Nanami considered just inviting Mizuki to walk with them rather than letting him stalk them, but she figured that Tomoe was probably having fun turning around and sending the snake death glares at regular intervals, so she let it be.

They hit an ice cream shop first, of course; Mizuki was forced to admit his presence and join them, not wanting to miss out on a treat. Tomoe kicked the white snake's feet under the table while watching Nanami eat, wearing a fond expression in spite of himself. Whenever Nanami looked up and noticed this expression, however, it immediately became sour, and Tomoe's ears flattened.

After eating ice cream, the trio wandered around a bustling area that was filled with shops, wondering how else to spend their time. Mizuki wanted to go to a spa, but Nanami was more interested in a small, unique-looking shop. She pulled Tomoe over to it by the hand, and she read out loud, "Miss Magic's Trinket Shop," and then, looking at a sign lower down, "Half-off sale!"

She knew by Tomoe's defeated sigh that he already knew what was coming; pointing, she exclaimed, "Half-off! I always take advantage of a bargain!"

That was how, mere moments later, Nanami, Tomoe, and Mizuki ended up standing in the strange, dusty little shop. They didn't even notice the tiny woman that came up to them until she tapped Mizuki's shoulder, eliciting an unflattering little scream.

"Oh!" Nanami smiled widely at the woman, who was as tiny and wizened as an overripe apple. "We're just stopping by, thank you."

Tomoe was feeling less friendly. "Why is everything half off?"

The woman turned her beetle-black, beady eyes on him. "People keep getting cursed after visiting my shop, and I'm closing down in a month due to repeated reports of injury and damage associated with the items I sell."

"We're going," said Tomoe immediately, but Nanami glared at him.

"It's not as though _we_ have too much to be worried about from a curse, right?" she protested, tugging at his sleeves defiantly. "Besides, how much of a fool would I have to be to pass on such extraordinary prices?"

"We don't even _need_ anything in here," Tomoe practically hissed, motioning around the shop with one long-nailed hand. "Mizuki thinks so too, I'm sure. Let's go."

There was an awkward "Umm…" from a corner; following the sound, Nanami saw Mizuki, who was eyeing a beautiful snake-shaped pendant. "The shop is kind of interesting, Tomoe. It has an affiliation for snakes!" It was true, too; the entire corner near Mizuki was full of items that were snake-based in some way, including a foreboding-looking box with snake-like patterns and what looked to be some sort of novelty hat, adorned with a cartoon snake design.

Tomoe gave what Nanami could only assume was a disparaging sniff and made to grab Nanami's wrist, but she pulled her hand away sharply. She was already running to the opposite corner of the shop, her eyes sparkling.

"Tomoe, _look_!" She excitedly indicated what appeared to be a charm bracelet, hanging from the wall. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the only charm on the bracelet was in the shape of a minute white fox, which gave off a faint, ethereal glow.

"Nanami, don't touch that!" snapped Tomoe, and for once, Mizuki agreed; he joined Tomoe in rushing toward the oblivious girl, but it was too late.

Nanami had already touched the charm, which glowed so intensely that it blinded all three companions. When the light faded, there was utter and complete silence for a moment, broken only by a shriek from Mizuki and Tomoe's silent scowl. Nanami, meanwhile, didn't see any problem, except….were her friends always this tall?

While Nanami racked her brain trying to figure out why she'd suddenly shrunk to less than half her height, and why her entire body felt weirdly...fuzzy, she faintly heard Tomoe talking to the shopkeeper.

"Turn her back," he spat, and Nanami shivered at his menacing aura. Mizuki, too, seemed to be completely serious for once. He was glaring at the shopkeeper, who now looked significantly less short from Nanami's viewpoint.

"If I knew how to do that, do you think I'd be closing my shop down due to reports?" the wizened woman said drly.

"You…" hissed Mizuki, but Tomoe was busying himself with Nanami.

The fox familiar looked so genuinely concerned that Nanami braced herself for bad news, assuming that she must be actively dying; as if to confirm her fears, Tomoe did something rather rare: he stroked her head. "How do you feel, Nanami?"

"How do you think she feels?" snapped Mizuki, turning on him, but he was silenced by a glare from Tomoe.

"Nanami?"

"Short," said Nanami truthfully, and she frowned with facial muscles that didn't feel like hers. "And weird...and something's poking me in the eye…"

In irritation, she batted the fuzzy thing away, and in that moment, she realized two things: firstly, that she had a paw; and secondly, that she'd just batted her own tail out of her face.


	2. Chapter 2

For many unknowing shoppers, a peaceful and uneventful afternoon was pierced by what sounded like an extremely loud, incredibly distressed yipping noise.

Inside the shop, Nanami was backed against the wall, Tomoe reaching out a hand to her slowly. Mizuki pushed past him abruptly, and before Nanami could say a word, he reached down and petted her gently on the head.

"Your fur's so soft, Nanami," he whispered, entranced.

Tomoe sighed and resigned himself to turning back to the shopkeeper. "You can't seriously tell me you have no idea how to reverse this. You have to have handled these items at some point."

"I'm not dumb enough to touch them with my bare hands," the woman cackled, startling Nanami. "It's not my job to look out for people that touch cursed objects."

"What the hell is that?" hissed Tomoe, glaring down at her. In his rage, his human disguise faltered, his flattened ears and lashing tail appearing along with the familiar fox fires in his hands. "If you don't want this place burned to the ground, curses and all, I suggest you find a better answer than that."

The woman became serious, eyeing the glowing fox fires. "You're a fox, huh? And what about Little Miss Idiot?"

"Hey!" protested Nanami, but her yip was interrupted by Tomoe.

"Watch your tongue," he glowered, narrowing his eyes at the shopkeeper. Nanami, who had been called an idiot by Tomoe many times, glared at the woman in momentary satisfaction. The positive feeling was rapidly overridden by panic, however.

"You have to be able to fix this!" she exclaimed. The shopkeeper just looked to Tomoe, raising her eyebrows.

"You can yip at me all you want, young lady, but I've got a strict policy," she said sternly. She pointed at a very small sign on the opposite side of the store. Nanami had to squint in order to read the text, which read _You touch it, you buy it! No refunds._

"You can't enforce that! It wasn't on the door! How was I supposed to see it?"

"I don't understand fox, dear."

"What?" Nanami blinked in confusion, momentarily forgetting her anger at the woman. "You can't...nobody can understand me?"

There was a gentle but reprimanding pressure on her head, caused by Tomoe's tail. "Did you forget? I'm a fox. Of course I can hear you."

Relief washed over Nanami, allowing her to return her focus to her present anger. "Can you please inform this woman that this is no way to run a business? It's like a scam! A scam that...that _curses_ people! Literally!"

The shopkeeper, who had plugged her ears to avoid the high-pitched stream of whining and yipping, looked at Tomoe, clearly expecting a translation.

"Tell me you know _something_ ," Tomoe hissed menacingly, fox fires glowing even more brightly, "if you want to live another day."

Eyeing the fox fires apprehensively, the shopkeeper appeared to understand that Tomoe, unlike Nanami, was not to be messed with. "Look, all I know is that to break the curse, you have to be in possession of the original cursed item. With the curses that can actually be broken-" (here there was an agitated yip from Nanami: "Some of them can't be broken!?") "-the solution is generally related to the curse's source."

"That is completely and totally unhelpful," supplied Mizuki, who had crouched down to stroke Nanami's fur.

"So what you're saying," Tomoe said in a low voice, "is that we have to purchase the item that cursed her from you and then use it in a completely unknown way to lift the curse?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment. "Yes."

Tomoe stomped out of the shop, and Nanami saw a burst of flame outside the window. A moment later, Tomoe stomped inside the room with a burnt sign in his hand.

"Congratulations, your items are now 100% off," he fumed. " _Give us the bracelet. Now_."

The woman glared at him, as if considering whether she ought to refuse and take the risk. Both Tomoe and Mizuki were staring her down, though, and she could clearly tell how powerful the two of them were.

"Fine," she huffed, "but if you don't want to have two cursed people, I'd suggest putting the bracelet on the stupid girl there."

Reluctantly, Tomoe did as she said, using his long nails to carefully handle the bracelet and putting it around Nanami's neck like a small necklace. There was no reaction this time, apart from a dim, pulsing glow from the chain. Nanami strained her neck and stared down at it, unsure of whether to admire its aesthetic or be repulsed by its cursed nature.

"Do you have any last words?" Tomoe asked, almost pleasantly, as he turned to look at the shopkeeper one last time.

She eyed his hands apprehensively, clearly wary of potential return of his fox fires. "All I can tell you is that the people - and yokai - that cursed these items generally had a sense of humor. The few curses that I've heard of being broken were usually broken by something ironic."

Tomoe and Mizuki both looked at Nanami, brows furrowed. She glared back.

"Stop thinking of amusing things to do to me," she snapped. She flicked her tail irritably and turned to walk out the door. "Stop antagonizing people, Tomoe. We've got the bracelet, let's go." Unfortunately, she had forgotten that she could not currently open the shop's door, and grudgingly stepped aside so Tomoe could do it for her.

"Come back any time!" the shopkeeper yelled at their backs, and Nanami's ears twitched at the satisfying _click_ as the door closed behind them. Enjoying the light feeling of walking on her paws despite herself, Nanami padded forward, only to be yanked up by two hands on her belly a second later.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tomoe hissed, allowing her to indignantly climb onto his shoulder and perch there. "You're going to get stepped on, you idiot."

"Don't call her an idiot," rebuked Mizuki, slinking up behind them. He scratched Nanami under her chin, and she hummed appreciatively. "She's been through a lot today."

There was a silence, in which Nanami could have sworn she heard crackling. "And _whose_ fault is it that this happened?" Tomoe said in a dangerous voice.

Nanami felt the fur on her back stand up.

"Ah, yes, the little land god who feels like she needs to touch everything that catches her eye," Tomoe continued quietly, one finger tapping menacingly on Nanami's skull. "You've broken your promise. How are you going to practice your talismans now?"

It seemed that as a fox, Nanami couldn't really cry, but she sniffled as she glared at Tomoe. Her familiar seemed to instantly recognize that he should have been more sympathetic and grudgingly stroked her fur.

"I wouldn't let you stay as a fox forever," he muttered, his ears flattening. "We'll fix it."

"Yeah, Nanami," Mizuki added excitedly. "Although you are so cute as a fox!"

"Don't make me kill you, despicable snake," Tomoe hissed.

"Be nice to Mizuki," reprimanded Nanami forcibly, and she was pleased to see that her words of power still worked, even if she was a fox. Tomoe, looking for all the world as if he'd like nothing more than to die on the spot, gave Mizuki a friendly pat on the back.

By the time they arrived at the shrine, Nanami was exhausted, and her distress over her new form didn't prevent her from curling up for a nap on Tomoe's lap, despite the fox familiar's protests. Mizuki was sent to go fetch Tomoe some texts for researching curses, and Tomoe petted Nanami as she lulled into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

If Nanami had thought Tomoe over-protective before, it was _nothing_ compared to how he was now that she'd been cursed.

Of course, Nanami was rather upset about being a fox, but it was hard not to try out her new body. She darted about, inspecting objects from her new height and seeing what small spaces she could fit inside. She played one-sided hide-and-seek with a very displeased Tomoe and spent quite a lot of time playing with her bushy tail. Every time she was on the verge of doing something fun, however, Tomoe magically appeared and stopped her.

In this particular instance, for example, Nanami had been testing her climbing abilities using one of the trees outside. She'd barely scrabbled her way up to the first branch when Tomoe deftly plucked her from the tree, leaving claw marks on the soft bark.

"Tomoe!" she yipped demandingly. "Let me down! It's not fair to just pick me up like that!"

Tomoe glared at her, grey eyes flashing. "I'm afraid stupid fox goddesses who are about to get themselves injured must be stopped by their long-suffering familiars, who have done nothing to warrant this behavior."

Tomoe plopped her rather unceremoniously onto a cushion on the floor, then sat down beside her, slipping on his thin-framed reading glasses. "Just try not to hurt yourself," he grumbled, flipping open to a marked page in a thick book. "Every time I ask Mizuki to watch you, he ends up being extremely creepy about your fur and I have to restrain him and no one ends up watching you. Can't you stay put for two minutes?"

"I've been a fox for _ever,_ Tomoe," whined Nanami, pushing at a mothball with her nose. "Can't you let me have a little fun? I'm very cursed and suffering here."

Tomoe stopped reading long enough to roll his eyes. "You've been a fox for exactly thirteen hours, and your idea of having fun includes little tiny broken fox bones and making researching your predicament impossible for your familiar!" He took a deep breath through the nose, visibly calming himself, and gave her his usual wolfish smile. "Dear mistress, wouldn't you like to take a nice long nap in that sunbeam?" As he spoke, he waved his hand, indicating a very appealing patch of floor, illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through the doorway.

Nanami eyed it. It was certainly a tempting offer; already, she was starting to yawn, her tiny body making its increased need for energy known. But…

"Nanami," Tomoe said, and Nanami's ears pricked at how serious he sounded. She met his eyes, and she thought there was something almost pleading there. "I'm going to undo this curse, but I need you to remain still so I can concentrate. You trust me, don't you?"

There was a long pause while Nanami's heart squirmed as if filled with angry snakes, torn by a mixture of guilt and distressing affection-caused palpitations; then she nodded, curling up in the sunbeam. "Only because I'm sleepy," she said defensively, wrapping her tail around her body and tucking her nose into it. "When I wake up again, I'll have more to say."

Tomoe reached over and stroked her head softly, his hand coming to rest at the base of her skull; she hummed appreciatively as he gave her a little scratch, then withdrew his hand. "You wouldn't be the land god I know if you didn't," he murmured fondly, but Nanami was already asleep.

Nanami woke to the pleasant sensation of a hand running gently along her flank.

She cracked one eye open and was rewarded by the sight of Tomoe, who was absentmindedly stroking her as he stared down a formidable text, different than the one she'd seen him with earlier. His face was tighter than before, and his eyes flickered over the words with greater speed now. _He's getting frustrated,_ Nanami thought with a rush of affection, _because he's worried._

Tomoe blinked and closed the text slowly, the stroking of Nanami's fur halting as he rubbed both hands over his face and removed the glasses. The air was so tense for a moment that Nanami almost couldn't breathe, and Tomoe gave a long sigh, closing his eyes.

Nanami tried to clear her throat, which happened to be a fox's throat at the moment, resulting in a very strange sound that woke Tomoe from whatever stress-induced trance he had entered. His eyes rose to meet hers, and he froze, an expression suspiciously like guilt or maybe fear on his angular features.

Well, that wasn't very comforting. "Doing some light reading, I see," Nanami said. She had meant it to relieve some of the tension, but it came out as stilted and awkward instead, and Tomoe's expression didn't lighten one bit. If anything, it stiffened.

She almost thought Tomoe wasn't going to answer her, but after a long moment, he said, "I haven't found anything about the charm that cursed you, but I've found some general information on similar curses."

Nanami stretched and straightened, trying her best to look attentive. "Okay, that's good, right? What's the deal?"

Tomoe refused to meet her eyes now. "The shopkeeper was right; usually, cursed items are made by yokai or witches or the like, and they usually have a nasty sense of humor, so breaking the curse is often accomplished by doing something ironic."

"I don't understand," Nanami responded. "What's ironic and fox-related? Is there such a thing as being ironic and fox-related?"

"I can't think of anything," mumbled Tomoe, scratching his head; his ears flicked. "I've asked Mizuki to compile a list of anything he can think of, but it's also possible the way to break the curse was only ironic for the person this item was originally intended to curse. We can only hope it's actually fox-related."

Again, not comforting. Nanami padded to Tomoe and pushed her head under his arm; hesitantly, he lifted his arm to let her crawl into his lap, then rested his hand on her head as she curled up.

"There is something else," Tomoe said.

Nanami waited, but no other information was forthcoming, so she prompted, "What is it, Tomoe?"

"Everything I found says that most of these curses are designed to be permanent if not broken within a certain time span," Tomoe spat out in a rush, as if determined to rid himself of the words as fast as possible. He took a deep, calming breath again, then continued, more slowly, "The normal amount of time is anywhere from 24 to 72 hours."

The weight of his words hit Nanami about as gently as a pillowcase full of bricks to the face. "Well," she said slowly, "that's, um...that's fine, right? That's plenty of time. Plus, who says this is like other curses?"

"Probability," answered Tomoe stiffly. Nanami felt a tremor go through his hand, and her heart stung.

"Well, probability can bite me," she declared, forcing energy into her voice as she deftly leapt up. She was far more balanced and nimble in this form than in her human form, so that was a plus. "I have tons of ideas and I'm going to start trying them right now! So don't worry, Tomoe. I know you'd be out of business if your land god permanently turned into a fox, but you're in capable hands!"

"Still as resistant to concise thought as ever," Tomoe retorted, but his posture had softened; as usual, her bubbly energy had relaxed him. Suddenly, he raised his voice. "Mizuki!"

The snake familiar appeared from the next room; Nanami was quite sure he'd been listening in on them.

"You're going to go into town, find that wicked woman, and demand to know where that charm came from," Tomoe ordered. "You're going to trace it back to its source so we can figure out who the original curse was intended for. That way, we can figure out how to break it."

"You don't have to be _bossy,_ you un-charming fox," Mizuki sniffed. Nanami winced; Tomoe was at his breaking point, and had no patience for Mizuki's antics.

"Go," Tomoe snapped, his hair raising slightly, and Mizuki gave him a mocking salute as he left.

"You're not going with him, Tomoe?" Nanami asked as she watched Mizuki climb onto his giant snake and take off.

"Who would keep a certain misbehaving fox out of trouble if I did that?" Tomoe teased gently, flicking her on the nose. His expression grew stern again, however. "Didn't you say you had some ideas? Feel like being useful for once, mistress?"

"That's rude, Tomoe," reprimanded Nanami. "But yes. I have brilliant ideas that will save the day, if you must know. Let's go."

 **...**

As it turned out, Nanami's brilliant, day-saving ideas were neither particularly brilliant nor awfully day-saving. Her first idea was to write a talisman that said "human" on it and stick it to herself, then one that said "curse break" and "brunette" and a couple others that didn't seem terribly related to the problem at hand. Lacking hands, she was forced to try to write by holding the calligraphy brush in her mouth. An hour later, she and an increasingly incensed Tomoe were both covered in ink and no closer to being human.

Her second idea was to do some things that seemed very silly for a fox to do. It was none too elegant and not at all effective, but it was better than sitting around and watching Tomoe stew in worry and poorly concealed despair. First, she tried to walk on two legs like a human and carry out a normal routine, including getting dressed ("because it's very un-foxlike behavior, so maybe that's ironic," she asserted to Tomoe). Next, she tried actually acting like a fox ("perhaps the item of the curse was beastlike, and the curser wanted them to accept their fate as an animal," Nanami offered). Nanami had never before been a fox, however, and did not really know what foxes did. She ran about wildly and ate several unsavory things over the course of a few minutes before Tomoe, looking rather offended at her portrayal of foxes, stopped her. She had a few other ideas, all of which were equally time-consuming and silly, and all of which Tomoe stopped fairly quickly. "Do you know what irony actually is?" Tomoe asked scaldingly after one particularly heinous attempt.

By the time Nanami's brilliant ideas ran out, the sky was growing dark, and she knew they'd passed the 24 hour mark. This had not escaped Tomoe, who said, "Nanami, do you feel...the same?"

Nanami knew what he actually meant. _Do you feel like you're permanently a fox now?_ Nonetheless, she answered delicately, "I don't feel any different. How about we go to bed?"

Tomoe shook his head, picking her up and carrying her to her bed. "You go to sleep, Nanami. I'm going to do some more research."

Nanami gave him a stern look as he set her down. "You need sleep too, Tomoe. Come on. A few hours isn't going to hurt."

"I actually don't need sleep, and this-" Tomoe broke off suddenly as though something were lodged in his throat. He swallowed heavily, then continued, "I should not have let this happen. I will sleep after you are back to your very irritating, very bad at making talismans self."

"That's rude about my talismans," Nanami muttered, but she yawned; already she was feeling sleepy again. Stupid, weak fox body.

"Sleep, Nanami," Tomoe whispered, and she did.

 _..._

 _Hey, y'all, I know it's been a while. I've had many things going on, so sorry for the delay, but I'll try to update this story more regularly now! Hope you enjoy! More action will start happening soon._


End file.
